Robots Helping Kids

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Starkville, Miss. (WCBI) — A group of researchers from Mississippi State University is hoping to use robot technology to help children overcome bullying.

The robot, named Nao, is a humanoid robot that came from France.

“…we were really interested to find out whether [the children] more likely to disclose their bullying experiences to robots than humans”, said researcher Dr. David May, a professor of Sociology at M.S.U.

The age group the research is targeting is 8 to 12 years.

Researchers hope Nao can help eliminate the biases that can come from human interviewers.

Dr. Deborah Eakin, a cognitive psychologist and professor at MSU, said “even the most well meaning interviewer has their own bias toward what happened to the child” and that social signs and reactions could lead a child to provide inaccurate information.

“What can happen is, in providing the wrong answers sometimes [the children] now…have that on the table as a potential something that happened…”, said Eakin, “…they incorporate that into their own memories so now they’re very memory of what happened is also tainted.”

Eakin also said that they recently did a study on college aged adults on how they would receive false information from a robot and a human. The research showed the adults were more likely to be receptive when hearing false information from an adult over a robot.

The end goal is to one day have Nao help law enforcement solve crimes involving children.

“Working with law enforcement should try to make their job easier and better is something that is really exciting to me…”, said researcher and associate professor at M.S.U. Dr. Cindy Bethel, “…and I think can make a difference and hopefully we can make a difference in a lot of children’s lives.”

Bethel is also the director of Social,Therapeutic, and Robotic Systems, or S.T.a.R.S.

The research team is looking for kids to volunteer with their research.

If you are interested, contact (662) 325-5804, email Dr. Eakin at deakin@psychology.msstate.edu, or sign up at bulldogstudies.com.

The sessions take 1-2 hours and are compensated at $10-$25 per session.